How Mustafa Ghouse Transitioned From Tennis Court To Helming VC Firm

SUMMARY

As India continues to be the third-largest startup ecosystem across the globe with more than 1.23K startups, many sports veterans are now joining as new age investors amid a boom in the domestic market.

Ghouse, who is a general partner of Centre Court Capital, shared on his investment thesis that he started “picking winners when they were aspiring athletes.”

According to him, sports, fitness, tech, gaming is a very unique group. “We try to make sure that we are covering all the key bases that are important for us to succeed,” he quipped.

One such personality is Mustafa Ghouse, a former Tennis player who has now become a full time venture capital investor.

Today (September 26), Ghouse was a speaker at Inc42’s MoneyX. “I never envisioned myself here. I transitioned from tennis into sports management, working across teams and programmes, which piqued my interest in the venture space and identifying opportunities,” he said.

Starting his career as a professional Tennis player in 1998, Mustafa is a former Asian Games Bronze medalist and member of the Indian Davis Cup team.

He then forayed into Ghouse, who is a general partner of Centre Court Capital, shared on his investment thesis that he started “picking winners when they were aspiring athletes.”ports management in 2011 with Globosports, later joining the JSW Sports as CEO.

Currently he is a director of JSW Sports, which owns more than 50% stake in Indian Premier League franchise Delhi Capitals and operates Indian Super League club Bengaluru FC and Pro-Kabaddi League team Haryana Steelers.

According to his Linkedin profile, Ghouse started Centre Court Capital in 2022, which rolled out its maiden INR 350 Cr fund with a focus on sports and gaming space in April.

Sharing his investment thesis, Ghouse says that the overall thesis around sportstech is coming from the back of how the sector has grown over the last seven to ten years. “India has seen a massive change in the sports and fitness category,” said Ghouse.

“And with that, comes the need and requirement of disruption,” he added.

According to him, sports, fitness, tech, gaming is a very unique group. “We try to make sure that we are covering all the key bases that are important for us to succeed,” he quipped.

It is pertinent to note that Ghouse’s fund has already completed its first two investments in the sports tech space, although the names of startups remain undisclosed.

It will look to focus on early-stage opportunities, earmarking INR 8 to 24 Cr, while reserving 40-50% of the fund for follow-on investments.